Little girls or little women, the Disney Princess effect, Author Mary Finucane started to notice her three year old daughter stopped being a child, she no longer cared about running, playing, she only cared to dress up and was “waiting for her prince”. Finucane argues that due to the media little girls are growing up to fast. She uses logos, pathos, and ethos to illustrate the deterioration of youth in little girls today. This topic explores the incline of influences towards young girls by the media on how they perceive the modern “Hot Look”.
This article talks about the way media is changing little girls to soon. The author talks about how different TV shows in the media, and different advertisements or songs have changed and influenced children particularly young girls into becoming little women to soon. She brings up research she has done on this topic and also brings in personal experiences with her little girl as well.
In validating her argument that little girls are growing up to fast she uses logos by stating that she believes $4 billion Disney Empire is just a step closer to a path that is becoming a concern to parent toward their young daughters. She states that that Disney has created new and scarier challenges for mothers by self-objectifying, and cyber bullying and their body image. TV shows like “Hannah Montana and “High School Musical” have created a new idea of a female childhood. Other than just Disney she looks deeper into what else is making young girls grow up to fast. ...
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...of unhappiness. In her article she also uses the word objectifying to illustrate the concern that most young girls are being objectified. She creates the emotion of sadness and disgust. The thought of a young girl being objectified creates sadness in visualizing and thinking of it.
Finucane has a background in play therapy and has a young daughter. She has done many hours of research on this topic and has thousands of followers due to her opinion and argument on the subject.In the end girls will always be surrounding by the media and there is no way to stop from what they watch or see but parents can monitor it the best they can. Its hard not criticize the girl for obsessing over the media when parents are also looking at the iPhones 24/7
As the article advances and the discussion gets broadens, Hanes shifts to the thought that Disney is not the only one who is generating the issue. The author states that it is also the way females are portrayed in general on TV. It is logical to think that toddlers act out what they observe around them, and that those habits learned will develop as they do, or at least that is what Hanes believes. The author attempts to reason by describing that little girls who grow up watching such movies and TV shows are most likely drop out of a sport because of the believe their bodies do not look good playing the sport ( Hanes 3). “ Girls see cheerleaders ( with increasingly sexualized routines ) in TV far more than they see female basketball players or other athletes” ( Hanes 4). The author uses logos when discussing this to convince the reader that TV really does send a misleading message. Hanes argues that it all starts with a seed that is planted in a toddler 's eyes when she was younger. Hanes continues to say that the only way to stop this , is to completely block out Disney movies and TV shows that contain such content like this ( Hanes 3
In “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect,” Stephanie Hanes covers the sexualization of young girls and women in every aspect of the media that influences children and teens. She explains that girls see media figures, movies, and sports being sexualized, and how this is causing children to associate looking and acting a certain way to being ‘the perfect women’. Hanes believes the hypersexualized media is causing girls to obtain a negative body image and it’s killing their self-esteem. The author proposes what she believes society should do about overcoming this obstacle, and how people can crush the stereotypes about women; to her everyone is responsible and should aid in fixing these problems. She explains that the media
In this paper I will talk about some information that I have obtained from reading Mary Piphers, Reviving Ophelia, Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls and give my view on some of her main points and arguments. I also will discuss why I feel Mary Pipher’s views on the toxic influence of media are accurate, and that it does affect adolescent girls. This paper will also point out the importance of Mary Pipher’s studies on the problems that today’s female teens are facing and why I feel they are important and cannot be ignored.
In the article, “Little Girls or Little Women: The Disney Princess Affect”, Stephanie Hanes shows the influential impact that young girls, and youth in general, are experiencing in today’s society. This article goes in depth on the issues that impressionable minds experience and how they are reacting as a result. “Depth of gender guidelines” has been introduced to youth all around the world making it apparent that to be a girl, you have to fit the requirements. Is making guidelines of how you should act and look as a gender going too far?
Disney princesses are fun for all ages, but their target audience is young children and “as children grow and develop, they can be easily influenced by what they see and hear”. Therefore, what they see and hear in Disney movies leaves an impression on them. The first princess, Snow White, was created in a time where each gender and race had a specific role in society. Recently, many believe that Disney has come a long way in regards to gender and race since Snow White, as several multi-cultural protagonists have been introduced subsequently, and gender roles do not appear to be as stereotypical as they once were. However, many of the apparent innocent messages about race and gender in these movies, can be exposed as otherwise. Despite their mask of progression, Disney princesses still have the potential to corrupt the minds of young children through sexism and racism.
This phenomenon is known as self-objectification. Technically defined self-objectification is when we choose to evaluate ourselves based on appearance because that is how we believe others adjudicate us. The American Psychological Association has found in recent years that self-objectification has become a national epidemic and an international problem. The more women and girls self-objectify, the more likely they are to be depressed, to have eating disorders. They have lower confidence, lower ambition, and lower cognitive function. Most also suffer from body dysmorphic disorder, in which a person becomes obsessed with imaginary defects in their appearance. The scariest incarnation of this, turning women into objects, are the increasing numbers of women who are raped each
Media is a powerful agent in entertaining children. It also influences and teaches the youth of society the suitable and appropriate gender roles that they inevitably try to make sense of. The power of media is very influential especially in the minds of the youth. Disney movies target the youth and plant certain ideas and concepts about social culture into the vulnerable minds of children. Media uses gender to its advantage, just like Disney productions. Humorous caricatures reveal some harsh realities about the portrayal of Disney Princesses in many movies made by the Walt Disney Company. Disney mixes innocence with the ultimate form of fantasy to capture an audience. Predominantly, Disney helps highlight the gender roles by showing the audience simply what they want to see. In the attempt to stick to the norm and portray stereotypical female characters, Disney created Princesses. Presented as damsels in distress and inferior beings to men, Disney Princesses give children an inaccurate portrayal of gender roles at a young age. Through Disney’s social success and intriguing films, such as The Little Mermaid, Snow White, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast, Disney Princess movies portray stereotypical representation of gender roles through the denigration of the female image, targeting and ruining the perception of youth today.
Society cements certain roles for children based on gender, and these roles, recognized during infancy with the assistance of consumerism, rarely allow for openness of definition. A study conducted by Witt (1997) observed that parents often expect certain behaviors based on gender as soon as twenty-four hours after the birth of a child. The gender socialization of infants appears most noticeably by the age of eighteen months, when children display sex-stereotyped toy preferences (Caldera, Huston, & O’Brian 1989). This socialization proves extremely influential on later notions and conceptions of gender. Children understand gender in very simple ways, one way being the notion of gender permanence—if one is born a girl or a boy, they will stay that way for life (Kohlberg 1966). “According to theories of gender constancy, until they’re about 6 or 7, children don’t realize that the sex they were born with is immutable” (Orenstein 2006). The Walt Disney Corporation creates childhood for children worldwide. “Because Disney are such a large media corporation and their products are so ubiquitous and wide spread globally, Disney’s stories, the stories that Disney tell, will be the stories that will form and help form a child’s imaginary world, all over the world, and that’s an incredible amount of power, enormous amount of power” (Sun). Because of the portrayal of women in Disney films, specifically the Disney Princess films, associations of homemaker, innocence, and dependence are emphasized as feminine qualities for young children. Thus, children begin to consider such qualities normal and proceed to form conceptions of gender identity based off of the movies that portray the very specific and limiting views of women (...
...for Parents." Media and Clothing Market Influence on Adolescent Girls: Warnings for Parents. Ed. Sarah Coyne and Stephen F. Duncan. Forever Families, n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2014. .
A Study Conducted by the American Psychological Association Task Force concluded that sexualization occurs when a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics; a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness (narrowly defined) with being sexy; a person is sexually objectified- that is, made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making; and/or sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person. The APA Task Force reported many example of the sexualization of girls, such as toy manufactures duce dolls wearing black leather miniskirts, feather boas, and thigh-high boots and market them to 8- to 12-year-old girls. Clothing stores sell thongs sized for 7– to 10-year-old girls, some printed with slogans such as “eye candy” or “wink wink”; other thongs sized for women and late adolescent girls are imprinted with characters from Dr. Seuss and the Muppets. In the world of child beauty pageants, 5-year-old girls wear fake teeth, hair extensions, and makeup and are encouraged to “flirt” onstage by batting their long, false eyelashes. Journalists, child advocacy organizations, parents, and psychologists have become alarmed according to the APA Task Force, arguing that the sexualization of girls is a broad and increasing problem and is harmful to girls, and I for one agree with their proposition.
A little girl sits on the floor with her gaze fixed on the television screen in front of her, watching magical images dance before her eyes and catchy songs flow through her ears. Even though she had seen it at least twenty times before, she still loved The Little Mermaid just as much as she did the first time she watched it. As she watched it, she longed to be a beautiful mermaid with a curvy body and wonderful singing voice like Ariel. She longed to be saved by the handsome Prince Eric, and fall in love and live happily ever-after like Ariel did. In today’s society, women strive to achieve equality between the sexes. Despite the tremendous steps that have been taken towards reaching gender equality, mainstream media contradicts these accomplishments with stereotypes of women present in Walt Disney movies. These unrealistic stereotypes may be detrimental to children because they grow up with a distorted view of how men and women interact. Disney animated films assign gender roles to characters, and young children should not be exposed to inequality between genders because its effect on their view of what is right and wrong in society is harmful to their future.
This chapter provides an overview of past researchers knowledge sharing and insights. It will introduce a framework for the study of identity portrayal and identity change in Disney princesses which are the main focus of the research.
Like most young girls, I grew up watching Disney movies. I remember the desire to be and act like almost anything that I watched. I wanted expensive things and a prince that would sweep me off my feet. But I never thought about the negativity that came from watching these movies until I was old enough to realize how they affected my image, behavior, and expectation of love. Most parents are not getting this either!
Fredrickson, Barbara L., and Tomi-Ann Roberts. (1997). "Objectification Theory: Toward Understanding Women's Lived Experiences and Mental Health Risks." Psychology of Women Quarterly. 21: 173- 206. Print.
In today’s modern age, young children are being raised by their TV screen. Reining from the original tales of Perrault and the Grim Brothers, the Disney princess line has been a staple on the screens since the 1930s (Do Rozario 1). However, these princesses have gone through dramatic changes to remain relevant to todays youth. The effects that can be influenced by the roles expressed in these types of films send mixed messages to the audience, causing them to ask themselves whether or not they should believe what the princess is expressing on the screen.